A Study on the Impact of Social Participation Activities on the Psychological Well-being of Low-Income Elderly: Focusing on the Mediating Effect of Social Isolation

Objectives The purpose of this study is to identify impacts of low income seniors’ social participation on social isolation and psychological happiness. Methods To this end, a structural equation model and mediation effect analysis were conducted using SPSS 28.0 and AMOS 28.0 on survey data collected from 226 low-income elderly residents in W City, Gangwon Province. Results The research results based on the research hypothesis are as follows. first, hypothesis 1 that social participation would have an impact on psychological happiness was adopted. Second, hypothesis 2 that social participation would have an impact on social isolation was also adopted. Third, hypothesis 3 that social isolation would have an impact on psychological happiness was adopted as well. Fourth, hypothesis 4 that social participation mediating social isolation would have an impact on psychological happiness was adopted. Conclusions The research results are significant that the research emphasized importance of social participation to reduce low income seniors’ social isolation and to enhance their psychological happiness.